Our Mental Health Team

Our Mental Health Team

Our Team includes:

• Dr Julia Piper, Private General Practitioner

• Dr Ahmed Vanker, Consultant Clinical Psychologist

• Dr Nisha Karia, Clinical Psychologist

• Lorraine Toll, CBT Therapist

• Penny Stevens, CBT Therapist

• Jane Clarke, State registered clinical dietician ( Daily Mail Columnist)

• Lindsay Kubicki, BANT Nutritionalist

We normally recommend that new patients register with the practice and book an appointment to see Dr Julia Piper for an initial consultation but other routes for treatment might also be possible. In general, Dr Piper will then refer you to the appropriate clinician depending on your particular symptoms and potential diagnosis.

Please contact Private General Practice Services on 0116 2700373 to arrange an appointment. Alternatively contact us by email and one of our team will respond just as soon as we are able.

Dr Julia Piper, BM, BS, BMedSci, MRCGP, DFFP, DipOccMed, DipAccMed

Dr Julia Piper founded Private General Practice Services in 1995. She is a member of the British Medical Association, the General Medical Council, the Medical Protection Society, the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the British Medical Acupuncture Society, the Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health, The Royal Society of Occupational Medicine and the Independent Doctors' Forum. Dr Piper used to be the Regional Physician in Charge for Bupa Health Screening and BUPA Wellness in Leicester, Birmingham and Lincoln. She worked with BUPA for almost twenty years, being involved with setting some of their national protocols. She has a keen interest in helping those people suffering from all mental health conditions including stress, depression anxiety, relationship difficulties etc and is a strong believer in the benefits of both a traditional and functional medicine approach to the treatment of autism, schizophrenia, and other similar illnesses and conditions. More information is avaible on Dr Piper by clicking here...

Dr Ahmed Vanker BA, BA (Hons) , MA (Clin Psych), Ph.D C Psychol,, C Sci , AFBPsS

Dr Ahmed Vanker works as a Consultant in Clinical & Paediatric Neuropsychology for the NHS and as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Neuropsychologist at Private General Practice Services. He qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in Durban, South Africa, and completed a PhD in Neuropsychology at the University of Natal in 1989.

Dr Vanker sees a wide range of individuals, of all age groups, with various mental and physical health difficulties, for psychological assessments and therapy.

More information on Dr Vanker is available by clicking here...

Dr. Nisha Karia, B.Sc. (Hons.), PsychD., C.Psychol.

Dr. Nisha Karia is a Clinical Psychologist chartered with the British Psychological society (BPS). Dr. Karia qualified as a Practitioner Doctor of Clinical Psychology (PsychD.) in 2004 after 9 years of academic, research and clinical training from the University of Surrey via BPS recognised and accredited courses. Through this training, further professional development courses and relevant pre- and post-qualification clinical practice, Dr. Karia has developed her knowledge, skills and experiences in working psychologically with people across the lifespan and with a variety of developmental, clinical and mental health needs. More information on Dr Karia is available by clicking here...

Lorraine Toll

Lorraine Toll is fully trained in cognitive behavioural therapy (‘CBT’). CBT is evidence based for the treatment of anxiety and depression. It is very useful in dealing with any thought disorder. Lorraine will work directly with you to help you achieve the target that you are aiming for in life.

CBT deals with the change of our thoughts and our behaviour from negative to positive. It assumes that our bad or difficult feelings are always associated with negative thoughts. The challenge is to be able to manage our minds in identifying low feelings and then find the negative thought associated. One then assesses the problem as if one is in a court of law and argues down the negative thoughts and replaces them with positive thoughts, thereby changing various actions in life to achieve a desired behaviour.

Any changes in our thoughts will change our behaviour and conversely, any changes in our behaviour will then affect our thoughts positively.

CBT is an adjunct to medical treatment. Sometimes, therefore, drug therapy is recommended initially by one of the practice doctors.

Treatment with Lorraine is by referral from Doctor Piper.

Lorraine trained as a Registered Mental Nurse, holds an Advanced Diploma in the Management of Psychological Trauma and has a MSc in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy.

Penny Stevens

Penny Stevens holds an MSc.in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy and specialises in the treatment of weight loss using CBT and other techniques as part of an inter disciplinary team which includes Dr Piper, who specialises in Nutrition, Jane Clarke, our resident clinical dietician, and Lindsay Kubicki, who also provides Nutritional support.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Weight Loss

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy has recently been increasingly widely recognised as a highly effective approach to successful weight loss and weight maintenance – and we are delighted to announce that it is now available at our practice!

With the Cognitive Behavioural approach to losing weight, and maintaining your new weight, our aim is to free you from the frustration of diets that fail to work and instead provide you with an opportunity to learn how to become successful in achieving and maintaining the weight loss you wish for. We work with you to support and empower you to make changes that will be the key to successfully achieving the results that you want.

Research shows that over 90% of people who try to lose weight by going on a diet will "fail". They may lose weight in the short term while sticking to the restrictions imposed by the diet, only to regain the weight when they stop the restrictions and often put on even more weight. Others soon find the restrictions too difficult to maintain and "give up". The result of this is that individuals blame themselves for "failing" and being "weak willed" or think that for some reason they are unable to lose weight. Referring to the many diets promoted by the multi-million pound “diet industry” Paul McKenna in his book "I Can Make You Thin" concludes: "Too many diets, too few results". He suggests that these kinds of diets “are no more than training courses in how to get fat and feel like a failure“. Crash diets or any severely restrictive diets do not work for long term weight management - in fact they interfere with the body's natural mechanisms and can cause weight gain due to muscle loss and the body's reaction to muscle loss and the body's reaction to deprivation of sufficient nutrition.

Eating is a behaviour which is essential for life! But how, when and what we eat are factors that are influenced by many things. We learn our eating habits at a very early age - and sometimes we need to update or change some of these habits in order to lose weight and maintain a healthier and happier weight. Our Cognitive Behavioural therapist is specially trained to help you to identify and to make those changes.

In the consultation our therapist will firstly discuss with you what your goal is in terms of the weight you wish to be. She will then conduct a full analysis with you of your diet and eating patterns. From this she will design a programme to achieve your goal and will support you in making the changes that have been identified. She will guide you through these changes, step – by – step, and provide you with the knowledge to become your own “therapist” so that you can be in charge of your life and continue to successfully manage your weight.

Jane Clarke, State registered clinical dietician

Lindsay Kubicki, BANT Nutritionalist

If you have a query or would like to email us please go to our contact us page.

If you would like to book an appointment please call us on 0116 2700373 or email info@privategp.com.

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